Kern Valley Sun Staff Report

During a Jan. 5 Kern County Superior Court hearing in the case of Daniel Patrick Willsey, the attorney who is accused of causing the fatal crash in the Kern River canyon two years ago that killed Deputy Joe Hudnall, Bakersfield Californian reporter Jason Kotowski disclosed, “Apparently CalTrans did a re-enactment of the wreck but the defense was not invited to attend. Willsey's attorneys want all the documents related to the wreck but CalTrans won't turn them over, for some reason.”

Parties familiar with the case speculate that, “there will likely be another delay in the case as they wrangle over this information.” Kotowski said there was no word in court what the re-enactment showed, or whether it supports the prosecution's case or not. According to the Californian, Defense attorney Fred Gagliardini, representing Daniel Patrick Willsey, said Caltrans invited deputies and the District Attorney’s office to the re-enactment but did not invite him and they won’t hand over their findings. He wants time to subpoena Caltrans to get video, measurements and other findings from the re-enactment, Gagliardini said.

Reporters were unable to contact Caltrans Monday.

Judge Gary T. Friedman continued a readiness hearing until Jan. 12, at which time he’ll make a decision on when to schedule the jury trial and allow Gagliardini enough time to get the information.

Willsey, a Southland attorney, was charged with having methamphetamine in his possession and in his system when his car collided with Hudnall’s on Nov. 14, 2006. The case has been repeatedly delayed thanks to destroyed blood evidence and the appointment of new attorneys, among other reasons.